Communicate, persuade, collaborate, sell to live a richer life

September 26, 2009

How to Learn Faster and Remember More

It’s sunny outside yet
you’re stuck studying. You must know this stuff for tomorrow.It gets worse. Your smart aleck friend
walks by saying “You know you’ll only remember ten percent of what you’re
reading right now.”She’s
citing an oft-repeated study that shows that, six weeks later, you’ll only
remember four percent of what you are passively learning by reading.

Yet that familiar study
has been debunked. Or rather there never was a study that showed people remember:

10% of what
they read

20%
of what they hear

30%
of what they see

50%
of what they see and hear

70%
of what they write and say

90% of what
they say as they do something with the information

“People do NOT remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they see,
30% of what they hear, etc.,” learning expert, Will Thalheimer emphatically
explains.

So the
percentages aren’t proven yet the levels for accelerating learning are. You do learn faster and remember more when
you move from passive to active, meaningful, repeated engagement in what you
are learning.

Your
Useable insight

You’ll learn
more and remember it longer when you:

• Actively
and repeatedly practice what you are learning, as you are learning it, and when
you continuously relate it to something concrete that matters to you.

Comments

How to Learn Faster and Remember More

It’s sunny outside yet
you’re stuck studying. You must know this stuff for tomorrow.It gets worse. Your smart aleck friend
walks by saying “You know you’ll only remember ten percent of what you’re
reading right now.”She’s
citing an oft-repeated study that shows that, six weeks later, you’ll only
remember four percent of what you are passively learning by reading.

Yet that familiar study
has been debunked. Or rather there never was a study that showed people remember:

10% of what
they read

20%
of what they hear

30%
of what they see

50%
of what they see and hear

70%
of what they write and say

90% of what
they say as they do something with the information

“People do NOT remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they see,
30% of what they hear, etc.,” learning expert, Will Thalheimer emphatically
explains.

So the
percentages aren’t proven yet the levels for accelerating learning are. You do learn faster and remember more when
you move from passive to active, meaningful, repeated engagement in what you
are learning.

Your
Useable insight

You’ll learn
more and remember it longer when you:

• Actively
and repeatedly practice what you are learning, as you are learning it, and when
you continuously relate it to something concrete that matters to you.